Michael Raelert Undergoes Knee Surgery

Michael Raelert at last year's Ironman World Championship, where he finished 32nd.

Two-time Ironman 70.3 world champion Michael Raelert announced on his website that after a year of struggling through injury he has undergone surgery on his left knee to relieve inflammation.

“Everything went very well,” he said in the announcement. “I can soon enter into training again, and I’m very excited to do so.”

According to his website, he is currently wearing a protective splint on his left leg and the first rehabilitation measures have been successful.

Raelert attributes the original injury to a mountain bike crash in the spring. He finished seventh at the Ironman European Championship in July on very limited run training and then had to withdraw from the Ironman 70.3 European Championship in Wiesbaden due to the injury.

“The issues appeared shortly before the race in Wiesbaden in hard training sessions, the old injury was not healed 100 percent,” he said. “Because of that, I simply needed a solution now.”

Raelert will not compete in September’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship or October’s Ironman World Championship.